Myth of the Redshirts
by CrystalGalaxyRaven
Summary: Alexia has been promoted to Head of Security. With this post comes great risk. When she's called down on a landing party to investigate mysterious happenings on Gamma IV, she will face danger, and come out of it laughing. As she battles the myth of the Redshirts, who knows what the outcome will be? NOTE: This was written with the original crew in mind.


**Hi! This is my first fanfic; I've been working on it for a while, and now it's finally finished!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Star Trek stuff, just my OC.**

It was an exciting day aboard the USS_ Enterprise_. Alexia had been assigned to the role of Head of Security just last week. She had recently been stationed on board the _Enterprise_, having been trained for her post on a space station located on the planet Sheron.

She was on her way to the bridge with Captain Kirk. The starship had been orbiting the planet Gama IV for a few hours, attempting to make contact with the research colony stationed there. So far they'd received no response.

Upon their arrival at the bridge, Lt. Uhura notified the captain, "I've attempted to hail them on all channels-multiple times—but there's still no response. Should I continue trying?"

"Open a channel," Kirk commanded. Once Uhura had done so, he attempted to do what Uhura had been endeavoring to do for over an hour. "This is Captain Kirk of the USS_ Enterprise_. We're here for the usual inspection," he said in his 'captain voice'—as if that would make a difference. Still no response. Shocker.

Kirk frowned. "This is highly irregular. They should be responding-we need to investigate. Spock, Chekov, Uhura, Alexia—you come with me. We're beaming down. Sulu—you have the bridge."

Alexia felt a thrill of anticipation jolt through her nervous system as she followed the captain and the others to the transporter room. Her first mission as Head of Security! However, the excitement was coupled with a shuddering thread of fear as she recalled the myth of the redshirts. According to rumor, if you are a redshirt (aka, of the Engineering or Security department) and are called down on a landing party, it practically guarantees that you aren't coming back alive. This shouldn't have troubled her—it _was_ only a myth, after all—but this particular myth had an uncanny habit of proving to be accurate. She shook it off-it was probably nothing. _I'm being paranoid_, she thought as she stepped onto the transporter platform. She couldn't suppress a shiver—mostly excitement this time—as Captain Kirk gave the order to energize. This would be a mission that she'd never forget!

Alexia never could have guessed how accurate her premonition was.

When the away-team landed, they searched the building carefully, but to no avail. The place seemed to be completely deserted.

Alexia was examining an un-explored room from the vantage point of a table-top—it would've giving her mother a heart attack, had she been there to witness it—when she heard it. A muffled thump, coming from the next room.

"Captain," she called quietly, "I think there's someone—or something—in the other room. I heard a noise—sort of a whumping sound."

"Okay," said the captain as the rest of the landing party gathered around him, "set your phasers on stun and follow me."

They then proceeded to move stealthily through the doorway.

Alexia was greeted by the sight of an alien dragging a limp human form through a hole in the wall on the far side of the room. Four more equally-unconscious people were visible through the hole, sprawled on the floor. It was the station's missing research crew.

Alexia and the rest of the landing party were about to attack, when suddenly the alien turned its hairy green head in their direction. Staring into the alien's eyes, Alexia's thoughts began to slow down and blur together, all coherent thinking muffled by a blanketing mental fog. The rest of the landing party was likewise hypnotized.

"I see my last specimens have arrived," the ugly beast croaked, grinning nastily. Its voice was barely comprehensible due to the pronounced rasp and gravelly undercurrent that gave its words a slightly reptilian sound. "Now, this will be much easier for both of us if you're asleep. Come on, chickies," its grin widened, exposing sharp, gleaming fangs, "you're getting veeeerrrrry sleeeeepy…"

Unable to help herself-and no longer in control of her limbs-Alexia, compelled by the intense gaze and hypnotic voice of the alien, collapsed, her figure crumpling to the ground. She could feel herself slipping away…until something sharp jabbed her in the side.

Jolted wide awake, she realized that the slimy, hair-covered creature had returned to the task of hauling the last of the research crew through the wall. A glance behind her confirmed that the rest of the landing party was sound asleep.

After making sure that the alien was still preoccupied, Alexia nudged Chekov, who was closest to her. "_Chekov, wake up_!" she hissed, trying to wake him without alerting the alien that she was conscience. A muffled _snorgzzz_…rewarded her for her efforts. Stifling a sound that was half exasperated sigh, half amused snort, she re-assessed the situation. If Chekov was snoring, there was absolutely no way that he, or and of the other landing party members would be waking up to assist her any time soon—especially considering that the research crew was still asleep after hours of un-answered hails. She'd have to deal with this on her own.

Using Chekov's body to hide her movements, she retrieved her phaser from where she'd dropped it when she collapsed, she took careful aim. Then—"_Snorgt!_" As Alexia glanced over her shoulder, Spock let out another loud "_Snorgmzz…_" Good grief! Of all the things to be thwarted by, it _had_ to be someone snoring. Couldn't fate be a little more creative?

Looking over at the alien to be sure it hadn't heard, she sighed in relief. It was apparently too busy dragging the crew member the last…few…inches…

Alexia froze as the creature slowly turned its head to look at her. All at once, she remembered the myth of the redshirts. It taunted her, telling her that she couldn't have possibly been stupid enough to expect to survive this mission. She shoved the thoughts away, unwilling to be distracted at such a crucial moment.

Feigning sleep, she watched the alien give the crew member a final shove through the wall and turn its attention to the landing party.

Slowly—_slowly_—it took one step, then another. Alexia knew she only had one chance to get this right—she had a feeling that the creature could move _much_ faster if it wanted to. Quickly, yet carefully, she took aim with her phaser. She fired. In a flash of pure energy, the alien fell to the ground, rendered unconscious.

Rising to her feet, Alexia breathed a sigh of relief. The alien was defeated, and she had survived. Her moment of triumph was interrupted by another, more gentle, snore, this time from Uhura. Did everybody snore? Quite possibly, she answered her own mental question in amusement as a chorus of snores and snorting emerged from the hole in the wall. Grinning, she flipped open her communicator.

"Mr. Scott? Alexia reporting."

"Scott here. Why are you reporting? What happened to the captain?" asked the Scottish engineer, a hint of worry in his voice.

"He's fine," she said with such certainty that it immediately put Mr. Scott's nerves at ease. "We found the research crew; an alien put them to sleep by way of hypnotism, but I dealt with it. Oh, and we _might_ have a _teensy_ problem," she added, amusement now clearly audible in her voice.

"What might that be?" inquired Scottish engineer, playing along.

"The alien hypnotized the rest of the landing party, too, so they are currently unresponsive and sounding like hippos with sinus problems!" snorted Alexia, not even attempting to hide her laughter now. "Could you beam us aboard anyway? As well as the research crew?"

"Aye, that I will," replied Mr. Scott, chuckling.

"Oh, but could you wait a minute?" requested Alexia. "There's something I want to do really quickly first." After receiving affirmation, she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the sleeping landing party. This was going to look so good on Facebook.

A few hours after being beamed aboard, the crew members awoke. Upon discovering who had saved them all, they thanked Alexia profusely. After accepting the thanks with all due humiliation and modesty (*cough cough*), Alexia retired to her quarters, saying that she'd had quite enough excitement for now.

Lying in bed, she mulled over the events of the day. Then she realized that there was one last thing she needed to do.

Alexia went to her computer and quickly wrote an email to her friend, Star. After describing her day, she sent the message and went back to bed, forgetting in her tired state to turn off her computer.

If someone were to look at her computer screen later that night, they would have seen en email that started something like this:

_Hi, Star! You'll never guess what I learned today… Spock snores!_

**And there it is, guys!**

**Please R&R—I'm welcoming suggestions for Original Star Trek Series one-shots. I'll write more as soon as I can. Reviews help motivate me. ;)**


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